


Ailee's MANicurist

by woozailee (silkengloss)



Category: Ailee (Musician), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, HAVE YOU SEEN HIS NAILS??, Nail Salon AU, One Shot, You know why?, idk what else to tag this as, jihoon is the manicurist here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-12
Packaged: 2019-07-11 09:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15969827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silkengloss/pseuds/woozailee
Summary: Ailee needs her nails done, but her usual manicurist is unavailable.





	Ailee's MANicurist

**Author's Note:**

> This has got to be the worst title I have ever thought of. This fic is also not representative of my ACTUAL writing skills. I just wrote this to get it out of my head. I like it anyway, so I hope you enjoy reading this too. Please ship Ailee x Woozi with me! <3

She had a dinner date coming up. With a friend. A good friend. A  _ best  _ friend.

It was just with Amber. So Ailee asked herself why she needed to have her nails done when she could throw on a hoodie and pajamas since Amber wouldn’t give a crap.

That didn’t stop her. Her nails were looking unkempt for several days now but she only had the time to have them groomed now. The only problem was...her favorite manicurist was out of town. She reserved a session and went to the nail salon anyway, hoping whoever they had on hand could do her nails justice.

The manager of the salon welcomed her in and directed her to an unclaimed seat.

“We’re sorry Sooyeon couldn’t be here,” said the manager. “She had to attend her cousin’s wedding, you see.”

“That’s alright. Who’ll be standing in for her?”

“We just hired a new employee recently. But don’t worry! For a newbie, his skills are top-notch!”

_ His?  _ Ailee noted that pronoun. She had nothing against men in the beauty business. In fact, a lot of talented makeup artists were men. But she’s never heard of a male manicurist before. A  _ man _ icurist.

Not a minute after the manager left her, the male manicurist Ailee was curious about stepped out of the employee’s lounge. He was a lot more petite than she imagined him to be. Looking at him, if he had longer hair, he’d easily be mistaken to be a woman. His skin was white and soft like those ancient Joseon princesses, and his arms and legs were slender but not too thin. It was only when he briefly turned to his side that Ailee caught a glimpse of his sharp masculine jawline. 

_ Wow, _ she thought,  _ he’s both cute  _ and  _ handsome. _

He bowed to Ailee and began prepping his tools on the table. As he did that, he asked her what her preferences were for the manicure. 

“A simple buff and polish,” she said, trying really hard not to blush. He had a raspy bedroom voice that she wondered whether that was his ‘work’ voice or his usual conversational voice.

“What’s your name?” she asked him.

“Lee Jihoon, Miss...?”

“Lee Yejin,” she said. “You can call me Ailee.”

“Miss Ailee.” Jihoon smiled, showing off a pair of adorable dimples on both corners of his mouth.

He started with a cotton ball of acetone to clean off the remaining bits of that ridiculous neon pink polish she had. She thought it was cool when she first got it. As the days went by, the mere sight of them annoyed her to the point that she chipped off the color herself. And pink was her favorite color. That meant a lot.

Once her nails were polish-free, Jihoon massaged a bit of moisturizer to every finger to prevent drying and hangnails. That was when Ailee took the time to examine Jihoon’s own fingers.

They were immaculately pretty. He had no polish on but they were clean, neat, naturally pink, and possibly the envy of minimalist beauties out there. And the tips were uniformly curved and oval-shaped. Now  _ that _ wasn’t natural. Not even for women.

“Your nails are pretty,” Ailee shyly commented.

“Huh?” Jihoon was undoubtedly so focused on his job that he didn’t hear her the first time.

“I said your nails are pretty,” she repeated for him. “Who did them for you?”

Jihoon pursed his lips, revealing another pair of dimples right on the spot where his laugh lines should be. “I did them myself.”

“No way.”

“Yes way.” He smirked and raised a brow.

His ability to switch from cute to sexy at the blink of an eye intrigued Ailee. She tried not to show it through her face, which was beginning to heat up. Yet when she glanced at the mirror across her, it showed her cheeks bright pink. And it wasn’t from the blush she used that day. 

“Who taught you how to do nail care?” she asked him.

“My mom,” Jihoon answered. “She made it a point that my nails always look well-groomed. When I was old enough to handle the tools carefully, she taught me how to buff and file and clean cuticles. Polishing was something I taught myself out of curiosity.”

“So, that’s how you got the job here?”

Jihoon nodded. “I was kinda embarrassed by it at first--looking for a manicurist position here in Seoul, I mean. Not many guys here look for that kind of job. More so back home in Busan. But this is what I’m good at and what I’m proud of doing.”

“That’s cool you’re working a job you love. It’s far better than an office job you’re forced to do just to pay the bills.”

“So you’re an office worker?”

“Yeah. Exciting, right?”

Ailee and Jihoon giggled. 

While getting a bottle of nail primer, Jihoon appeared to rock towards her as if he wanted to ask something. He swayed backward, but he swayed forward again and cleared his throat. 

“Are you alright?” asked Ailee. 

“Yeah, I just…” Jihoon pursed his lips again. Damn, he was so cute when he did that. “I was just curious.”

“About my dream job?”

Jihoon’s head cocked up to meet her gaze. His small eyes were amazingly big at that moment. 

“How’d you know?”

“I mean, we were talking about jobs, so I figured.”

Jihoon blushed and opened the bottle of primer to paint the first layer of her nails. 

“Anyway, to answer you, I wanted to be a lounge singer.”

“Wanted? So, you’ve given up on it?”

“Well, I have thought about really giving up on it. For practical reasons.”

Jihoon didn’t say anything. She figured he understood that maybe it wasn’t something to keep talking about. 

After he filed her nails, he started putting on some color on them. He chose a matte dusty rose shade that looked great against her skin tone. His movements were slow and calculated. As the pads of Jihoon’s fingers touched Ailee’s fingers, time seemed to go by slower. Her heartbeats eased in a comfortable manner with every stroke of the polish brush. But they quickened in pace whenever Jihoon would press his fingers deeper. His hands were so warm, not like some other manicurists and their clammy hands.

“You know, I’ve kinda wanted to be a music producer before,” Jihoon suddenly said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. But I only made music as a hobby before. Writing and composing on Garage Band on Mac and stuff. Sang a bit too. For fun.”

“That’s… That’s actually really cool,” Ailee commented with sincerity.

An idea then popped into her mind. 

“Wanna try making a song together?” she suggested.

She didn’t mean to say that out loud, but what’s done was done. Jihoon gave her an incredulous expression, which broke into a smile. He laughed in such a gorgeous manner that Ailee swore her face matched the color of the lipstick she had on when she heard him. 

Jihoon’s laughter subsided. “I’m sorry. I’m not making fun of you or anything. I just thought that it’d be fun to do what you said.”

“So, you’re up for it?” Ailee asked him.

“Yeah! Why not?”

Jihoon finished painting and drying Ailee’s nails and then he began packing his tools. He took out his phone from his pocket as he did so.

“Can we trade numbers, Miss Ailee?”

Ailee dug into her handbag for her phone. “Of course! You can just call me ‘Ailee’, by the way.”

Numbers were exchanged as well as a few quick glances at each other. Ailee saved his name as ‘Jihoonie’ with a heart emoji after it on his contact details. It was weird, she had to admit. They’ve only met that day and she’s already referring him in an intimate way. She didn’t know what he saved her name as in her phone, but it didn’t matter much to her as long as he had her number.

Ailee paid for the services and even secretly gave Jihoon a tip.

“I’ll call you soon, okay?” she told him as Jihoon held the salon’s door open for her.

“Okay.” He said with a smile that made Ailee’s heart thump faster again. “I look forward to it.”

That night, Ailee just couldn’t stop mentioning the handsome manicurist to Amber while they had dinner in a casual restaurant. Though she enjoyed spending time with her best friend, she was itching to get home soon to call Jihoon. His raspy bedroom voice kept playing in her mind at random intervals, and she couldn’t wait to find out how his  _ singing _ voice would sound like especially when he sang with her.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
